Oracle PL/SQL Tutorial/Aggregate Functions/STDDEV

STDDEV(x) get the standard deviation of x.

Standard deviation is a statistical function.

Standard deviation is defined as being the square root of the variance.

The following example displays the standard deviation of the salary column values from the employee table using STDDEV():

SQL>
SQL> -- create demo table
SQL> create table Employee(
  2    ID                 VARCHAR2(4 BYTE)         NOT NULL,
  3    First_Name         VARCHAR2(10 BYTE),
  4    Last_Name          VARCHAR2(10 BYTE),
  5    Start_Date         DATE,
  6    End_Date           DATE,
  7    Salary             Number(8,2),
  8    City               VARCHAR2(10 BYTE),
  9    Description        VARCHAR2(15 BYTE)
 10  )
 11  /
Table created.
SQL>
SQL> -- prepare data
SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)
  2               values ("01","Jason",    "Martin",  to_date("19960725","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("20060725","YYYYMMDD"), 1234.56, "Toronto",  "Programmer")
  3  /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)
  2                values("02","Alison",   "Mathews", to_date("19760321","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19860221","YYYYMMDD"), 6661.78, "Vancouver","Tester")
  3  /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)
  2                values("03","James",    "Smith",   to_date("19781212","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19900315","YYYYMMDD"), 6544.78, "Vancouver","Tester")
  3  /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)
  2                values("04","Celia",    "Rice",    to_date("19821024","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19990421","YYYYMMDD"), 2344.78, "Vancouver","Manager")
  3  /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)
  2                values("05","Robert",   "Black",   to_date("19840115","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19980808","YYYYMMDD"), 2334.78, "Vancouver","Tester")
  3  /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary, City,        Description)
  2                values("06","Linda",    "Green",   to_date("19870730","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19960104","YYYYMMDD"), 4322.78,"New York",  "Tester")
  3  /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary, City,        Description)
  2                values("07","David",    "Larry",   to_date("19901231","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("19980212","YYYYMMDD"), 7897.78,"New York",  "Manager")
  3  /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary, City,        Description)
  2                values("08","James",    "Cat",     to_date("19960917","YYYYMMDD"), to_date("20020415","YYYYMMDD"), 1232.78,"Vancouver", "Tester")
  3  /
1 row created.
SQL>
SQL>
SQL>
SQL> -- display data in the table
SQL> select * from Employee
  2  /
ID   FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME  START_DAT END_DATE      SALARY CITY       DESCRIPTION
---- ---------- ---------- --------- --------- ---------- ---------- ---------------
01   Jason      Martin     25-JUL-96 25-JUL-06    1234.56 Toronto    Programmer
02   Alison     Mathews    21-MAR-76 21-FEB-86    6661.78 Vancouver  Tester
03   James      Smith      12-DEC-78 15-MAR-90    6544.78 Vancouver  Tester
04   Celia      Rice       24-OCT-82 21-APR-99    2344.78 Vancouver  Manager
05   Robert     Black      15-JAN-84 08-AUG-98    2334.78 Vancouver  Tester
06   Linda      Green      30-JUL-87 04-JAN-96    4322.78 New York   Tester
07   David      Larry      31-DEC-90 12-FEB-98    7897.78 New York   Manager
08   James      Cat        17-SEP-96 15-APR-02    1232.78 Vancouver  Tester
8 rows selected.
SQL>
SQL>
SQL>
SQL> SELECT STDDEV(salary) FROM employee;
STDDEV(SALARY)
--------------
    2662.82724
SQL>
SQL>
SQL>
SQL> -- clean the table
SQL> drop table Employee
  2  /
Table dropped.